January 31, 2017

Brooks Watch

Many Republican members of Congress have made a Faustian bargain with Donald Trump. They don’t particularly admire him as a man, they don’t trust him as an administrator, they don’t agree with him on major issues, but they respect the grip he has on their voters, they hope he’ll sign their legislation and they certainly don’t want to be seen siding with the inflamed progressives or the hyperventilating media….

But if the last 10 days have made anything clear, it’s this: The Republican Fausts are in an untenable position. The deal they’ve struck with the devil comes at too high a price. It really will cost them their soul.

Brooks go on to characterize the devil's "traits": "[His] is an ethnic nationalist administration," not a Republican one (only partly true); it "is less a government than a small clique of bloggers and tweeters"; it is bigoted; and it is "tainted by cruelty." Brooks' prediction, which is entirely true: "None of these traits will improve with time."

He concludes: The Trump administration "is a danger to the party and the nation in its existential nature. And so sooner or later all will have to choose what side they are on, and live forever after with the choice."

It is the very immutability of Trumpism that leads me to believe in Brooks' immutability of opinion about it. I appreciate that "elitism" and elitist opinion aren't worth much right now, but they'll make a comeback someday — and the public consensus in their favor will be vastly assisted by a working coalition of Burkean conservatives and Obamian progressives.

Comments

Many Republican members of Congress have made a Faustian bargain with Donald Trump. They don’t particularly admire him as a man, they don’t trust him as an administrator, they don’t agree with him on major issues, but they respect the grip he has on their voters, they hope he’ll sign their legislation and they certainly don’t want to be seen siding with the inflamed progressives or the hyperventilating media….

But if the last 10 days have made anything clear, it’s this: The Republican Fausts are in an untenable position. The deal they’ve struck with the devil comes at too high a price. It really will cost them their soul.

Brooks go on to characterize the devil's "traits": "[His] is an ethnic nationalist administration," not a Republican one (only partly true); it "is less a government than a small clique of bloggers and tweeters"; it is bigoted; and it is "tainted by cruelty." Brooks' prediction, which is entirely true: "None of these traits will improve with time."

He concludes: The Trump administration "is a danger to the party and the nation in its existential nature. And so sooner or later all will have to choose what side they are on, and live forever after with the choice."

It is the very immutability of Trumpism that leads me to believe in Brooks' immutability of opinion about it. I appreciate that "elitism" and elitist opinion aren't worth much right now, but they'll make a comeback someday — and the public consensus in their favor will be vastly assisted by a working coalition of Burkean conservatives and Obamian progressives.